FUEL FIASCO...FUEL FIASCO
SELFISH FUEL PANIC BUYERS LEAVE CABBIES UNABLE TO FILL UP AND GO TO WORK
Taxi drivers unable to fill their vehicles with fuel due to panic buying motorists will have their livelihoods affected leading to vulnerable people being left behind, taxi chiefs have warned. Those needing taxis are being alerted they may face a struggle, particularly if panic buying continues to exacerbate fuel shortages at petrol stations. “We’re in the same situation as the toilet roll panic buying at the start of the Covid crisis,” David Lawrie, director NPHTA told i News. “There isn’t actually a real shortage of fuel, but a shortage is being created by the panic buying when people don’t actually need the fuel – and then some are actually booking taxis to take them places to preserve their own fuel. “What they don’t realise is that for taxi drivers, it is their living and if they can’t get fuel, they can’t work – and that has a huge knock-on effect on the public.” Mr Lawrie says he has already been contacted by many drivers who have reported struggles in finding fuel. He
says if the panic buying continues, taxi drivers will have no choice but to stay at home and turn down work. “SEN children won’t be able to be transported to school, the elderly, housebound and disabled won’t be able to leave their homes and vulnerable people won’t be able to go out and get their shopping,” he warned. “The problems are not down to a shortage of fuel, but because people are panic buying and some selfish people are even filling jerry cans to hoard. “People need to be more sensible and only put in the fuel in their cars that they would normally use. “We rely on the same petrol stations that the general public are panic buying from. If the taxi and private hire industry is starved of fuel, it won’t be able to function and that service won’t be there and a whole section of the community won’t be able to get transport.” Mr Lawrie says if panic buying carries on impacting taxi drivers, people going on nights out drinking will also
experience a shortage of taxis to get them home. He says this will also lead to an increase in public disorder as troublemakers will not be taken home and wreak havoc. “People will still go on nights out and will only realise the shortage of taxis once they have had a drink. Some people will get aggressive because they can’t get home and this makes the job of the police a lot harder.” The government has reacted to the situation by temporarily suspending competition laws in a bid to allow the fuel industry to target petrol stations most in need of supplies, following motorists panic-buying from. Officials have said the move would make it easier for companies to share information so it can prioritise parts of the country where supplies are low. Meanwhile, the MoD has put around 150 military tanker drivers on “short notice” to deliver fuel. They will be held in a “state of readiness” and could be deployed “in the coming days” if needed.
LONDON CARE WORKERS, NHS STAFF AND CABBIES UNABLE TO FILL UP, MAYOR SADIQ KHAN SAYS
Care workers, NHS staff and cabbies are unable to fill up at petrol stations, London mayor Sadiq Khan has said. Mr Khan told Sky News: “Our emergency services and our buses have enough and they have some in reserve, but we are hearing stories about care workers and hospital workers, black cab drivers and private hire vehicle drivers not being able to fuel up and provide the
services that our city needs but also to enable people to get to work. “We are working with the DfT to do what we can to make sure we have fuel being provided particularly for those key workers across our city.” Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, has refused to rule out requesting military assistance, after queues for the pumps continued across the country. He has
already backed down over his reluctance to import foreign labour to solve the HGV driver shortage, by cre- ating 5,000 three-month visas to bring in extra hauliers to address delivery pressures. He told the BBC the move would fix the “100 to 200” fuel tanker driver shortfall, as he urged motorists to be “sensible” and only fill up when necessary to help alleviate the queues.
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